1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for performing a predetermined processing, e.g. for recording and/or reproducing information in and from a recording medium, and more particularly, to an information recording/reproducing apparatus which uses, for example, a disk-shaped recording medium encased in a cartridge. The information recording/reproducing apparatus of the present invention is used suitably but not exclusively as a vehicle-mounted disk player.
2. Prior Art
Hitherto, such information recording medium has been known as a disk-shaped medium encased in a cartridge, e.g., as an FD (Floppy Disk).
In recent years, a recording medium referred to as a MD (Mini-Disk) has become available. This type of recording medium includes an optical disk or a photo-magnetic disk encased in a cartridge. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for development of disk players which can perform recording and/or reproduction of information by using MD.
Data is compressed when recorded in an MD. In reproducing the recorded data, therefore, data read from the disk is temporarily stored in a memory and then read from the memory while being decompressed or expanded. The temporary storage of data in the memory reduces the risk of data skipping, e.g., sound skipping, even in the event of a track jump of data reading pickup during reproduction, thus improving reliability of the reproduction.
Such an MD player system, when intended for use in an automobile, requires a vibration isolating supporting structure similar to that used for an automotive CD player system. The supporting structure incorporates springs or the like means by which a data reading portion of the player is suspended from a housing of the player so that the data reading portion is isolated from vibration which otherwise may be transmitted from the housing.
Automotive disk player systems also require a loading mechanism for automatically pulling a cartridge into the player. The above-mentioned supporting structure has to be locked when the loading mechanism is operating to set the cartridge in the player, so as not to hamper the operation of the loading mechanism.